Interview: Mark Fahey looking forward to continuing long family history with Punchestown

Many generations of people have memories of Punchestown, whether it was when the schools used to close for a half day or getting taken out of them all together.

That experience of course is all furthered when you come from a racing family. Mark Fahey, a trainer himself, is one of many in his clan with association to horses. His father was a well-known farrier and his uncles Jarlath, Paul and Seamus are all trainers, amongst others in the family too.

It’s easy to say that Mark got the grá for it all at home, he said, “I used to go around different yards with my Dad riding for different trainers. I rode as an amateur and we had a few homebred horses and that is how that evolved.”

The ever-present during this time would of course be Kildare’s National Hunt spectacle Punchestown and the Fahey’s, like many, have memories of the festival going back a long way.

“We were always there and would have always gone when we were younger. Always at the festival and a few of the smaller meetings too. If someone ever had a runner, we got the day off school to go over and see it. We wouldn’t have ever got the full week though,” Mark said.

One of Mark’s first big moments as a jockey came at the Festival and it was one moment in a long line of them with Fahey family ties all over it for the young amateur.

“Everything was going great there for a while (as a jockey). I had good success, plenty of good horses. I won the Goffs Land Rover Bumper in Punchestown and I also rode a winner for my uncle Paul in a bumper at the festival,” Mark recalled.

“That was brilliant. Lots of Memories ended up a great horse for Paul and it was a great day for all of us.”

Mark’s riding career would be cut short after he was thrown from a two year-old on a sand gallop in August of 2015, suffering severe injuries as a result.

He said, “I got a fall unfortunately, but thankfully I had the trainer's licence at the time and then I just concentrated more on that.”

The Monasterevin man had already notched his first win as a trainer by that stage when Point The Toes crossed the finishing post first in Downpatrick in the summer of 2013.

“My grandmother owned that horse so it was brilliant to have a first winner for her,” Mark smiled.

“I rode a winner on the same mare too. As well as giving me my first winner as a trainer, Point The Toes also gave my brother and my sister their first winners.”

Point The Toes would seemingly give so many of the Fahey’s careers lift-off, now the real work starts of course and the trainer hails a couple of horses in particular for helping to further his young career.

“Well Set Up and Edification would have both done very well for me. Edification won a Premier Handicap for me (The Irish Stallion Farms EBF 'Ragusa' Handicap) on the Curragh,” Mark said.

“Well Set Up won a couple of listed races and Grade 3’s. They were some of the ones that have kick-started the early parts of my career.”

As it so often did, the Punchestown Festival would again spur on the ambitions of the family and another often credited horse for Mark, Das Mooser, gave him his first taste of Festival victory, out of the saddle, by winning the KFM Hunters Chase. A race also referred to as the Bishopscourt Cup or as Mark referred to it “the local farmers race.”

“It does help. When you get a few winners and put them together it does, especially at the high-profile meetings, if you can get them.”

The 2024 festival is fast approaching and the Monasterevin trainer has his plans nearly set for the busy week’s racing.

“One or two for the handicaps and I have a horse for the Land Rover Bumper called Sellerna Bay. We think she is nice and we are hoping she gets to run in that on the first day,” Mark explained.

“The festival for me has been lucky. I would love to have a few more cracks at it, but it is very competitive and that is why the racing is so good. Hopefully we can be more competitive over the next few years.”